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There are, literally, hundreds of marketing tactics and platforms now and most companies don't have huge marketing budgets that allow them to invest in everything. YouTube allows you to compete on equal footing with even your biggest competitor.

I've read more thana fewarticles that sensationalize the large dollar amounts that Digital Influencers are making. I've also overheard many people having conversations about this that indicate they think this is frivolous. I want to tell you that when I hear anyone snicker at what Digital Influencers are making, I automatically think:

That person is out of touch with the reality of marketing today - these kids in their bedrooms with their iPhones making videos are who people listen to (especially Millennials, who everyone seems to want to reach).

That person is going to regret their dismissal of Digital Influencers when they are priced higher than the current market rates for other forms of advertising.

Just because you don't understand why this is happening doesn't mean it isn't happening. And it's only the beginning.

Doing The Basic Math

The simplest way to describe the value is by presenting the basic math. When you work with a Digital Influencer, you are getting more than someone sitting in their bedroom for a few hours recording and editing a video. You are getting video production/editing/direction, talent, natural amplification AND celebrity/influence.

If I was to conservatively price out a basic YouTube video looking for 100,000 views (equivalent views to a mid-range YouTube influencer with around 200,000 subscribers), it would look like this:

Scripting/production/shooting/editing - $5,000 (for really basic stuff)
Hiring basic talent (with charisma) - Average $250/hr - ACTRA says you have to pay for a full 8-hour day - $2,000
Boosting - Assuming the CPV (Cost per View) is $0.05 = $5,000 for 100,000 views
Influence/Celebrity - hard to price this, but Kim Kardashian makes $100,000/hr for appearances and Snooki makes $25,000. Neither of them show up on the most influential list. Let’s be conservative, though, and say $10,000 for the appearance.

That nets out to a very conservative estimate of value for a YouTuber with 200,000 subscribers (and ~100k views/video on average) to $22,000 per video.

The Bottom Line

When you hire a Digital Influencer, you aren't paying for the few hours they take to record the video or the quality of the camera or editing work. You are paying for their SOCIAL CAPITAL, which in their world is VERY tangible.

You can see their subscriber numbers and the way their audience is deeply engaged in everything they do (from what they are wearing to who they listen to and beyond). They've spent years building deep trust with their audience by investing in them and being open and transparent. According to a study by Variety, Digital Influencers rate higher than Hollywood celebrities in influencing purchases.

To dismiss them for being too young or their work being too fun/easy or their content being too casual is to completely miss the reality of the situation: your brand should have invested in digital content years ago. Just one 30-second spot would fund anywhere from 1-10 YouTube stations for a full year (depending on your production investment + complexity). That sort of investment would mean a smaller long-term investment, bringing that efficiency that many companies look for today.

I still believe that working with Digital Influencers is one of the strongest short term marketing tactics you can deploy today and going forward, but it's also important you learn from them and invest in becoming an influencer yourself.

A trope is a commonly recurring motif - a type of video in this case - that you see across multiple channels. Not quite a meme, not quite a format, these tropes recur between groups of YouTubers to help connect their content.

Different vlogging communities have different tropes and will make fun of tropes that exist in other communities. For instance, the Makeup Tutorial Trope has been used as a comedic vehicle in videos like this one by Megan Mackay:

Many people recognize the Makeup Tutorial trope, but there are many others. Just producing Makeup Tutorials on a channel isn't enough to connect with your audience. In the How-To & Style category, there are many tropes that YouTubers use to connect with their audience. The most popular are the following:

The Makeup Tutorial Trope

The What's-in-my... Trope

The Haul Trope

The Lookbook Trope

The Tag or Challenge Trope

The What I Am Wearing Trope

The Routine Trope

The Review Trope

The DIY Trope

The Q&A Trope

All of these motifs recur frequently under the How-to & Style category and are the go-to video for most beauty and style YouTubers. For any company that is looking to collaborate or hire a YouTuber, you can use these to think beyond the product review.

The Makeup Tutorial Trope

The Makeup Tutorial seems to be the most commonly used and popular trope of all. Michelle Phan has made an empire from makeup tutorials - doing everything from a smokey eye to celebrity makeup:

Makeup tutorials are great because many women are searching for tips on how to recreate looks on YouTube all of the time. I, myself, have watched Kandee Johnson's Jem Tutorial multiple times (as it's my fallback costume).

The What's-in-my... Trope

The What's-in-my... videos are exactly what they sound like: the vlogger pulls items out of her bag and talks about them one-by-one. Her electronics, her cosmetics, her essentials...she usually talks about the bag itself as well:

These are incredibly popular and are a mix of personal information and product reviews. It's not just a beauty vlogger phenomenon either. You'll find the What's-in-my... trope in other categories as well.

Other variations include: What's on my Phone (apps), What's in my Fridge, What's in my Drawer, What's in my Locker, etc. Audiences love these videos because it helps introduce them to new products that they may have not heard of before and getting the validation from their favourite YouTuber will go a long way to driving interest.

The Haul Trope

Hauls are, in basic terms, a showing off of what you just bought. Whether it was going down to the mall and buying a bunch of new clothes or makeup or ordering a bunch of stuff online, the format of a haul is to pull out new products one-by-one and talk about:

a. what you bought
b. why you bought it
c. what you paid for it (sometimes...and especially when it was a deal)

Some focus on specific shops (Sephora, Lush, Forever 21, etc), some focus on times of year (back to school, summer, holiday, etc.) and some are just big splurges.

Hauls have been the subject of much derision by the non-beauty community, but they are consistently popular for the YouTubers that use these tropes, though they tend to only do them a few times per year. Hauls, very much like the What's In My... Trope, drive interest for audiences.

The Lookbook Trope

Lookbooks summarize the wardrobe trends - usually for the season - for each of the YouTubers. They are usually done to music in various poses with closeups on details of the clothing and makeup. In these videos, the YouTubers usually point their audience to where they can buy these looks themselves:

Modelling themselves after fashion house lookbooks, these videos are highly stylized and have a funky beat for a soundtrack. There is usually no voice over for this type of video.

Lookbooks are loved by fans if they are done right - beginning of a season, etc - because they give them ideas on how to pull together outfits for that season.

The Tag or Challenge Trope

Tags on YouTube are very different than tags as we know them on other platforms. Tags on YouTube are more "Tag, You're It!" than #hashtag (though they are tied together with tags/hashtags).

The way Tag Videos work is that the initial Tagger will create a series of questions and answer them in their video, then 'tag' a group of other YouTubers to answer these same questions. There are hundreds of Tag videos on YouTube under almost every personal topic including: Boyfriend Tag, Best Friend Tag, Sister Tag, Twin Tag, TMI Tag...and many many more.

Here is a great example of how a brand worked in their core message to start a Tag (disclosure: I worked on this campaign):

Challenges are a bit different and are participated in more by men than women (women tend to do Tags on YouTube, while men do the Challenges). They usually involve something physical (ie. The Cinnamon Challenge, where participants are challenged to eat a spoonful of cinnamon on camera) and are more silly/fun than personal:

Both Tags and Challenges are great ways for YouTubers to collaborate at a distance and create a sense of community on YouTube.

The What Am I Wearing Trope

OOTD or Outfit Of The Day videos are similar to the lookbook videos, but they tend to cover only one outfit (thus OOD). Like Lookbooks, they tend to be highly stylized and without commentary and point their viewers to wear they can recreate the look. These videos are an evolution from Fashion Blogging, where the fashion bloggers would take a series of photos - close-up details and full length shots - to demonstrate their daily fashion look.

GRWM or Get Ready With Me videos are a combination of OOTD and makeup and hair tutorials. In one video, you get a full routine. They usually revolve around an event (prom, back to school, wedding, date night, etc) so you can, literally, follow along to create the same look head to toe:

I call this category, in general, the What Am I Wearing Trope as they both deconstruct a specific look to try at home.

The Routine Trope

The Routine Trope brings you even closer to learning a day-in-the-life of a vlogger. Some of these routines are more instructional, such as My Workout Routine, but many of them are intimate like Morning or After-School Routines that take you a little bit behind the scenes of their lives:

Many brands want exclusive review posts, but what they fail to understand is that being included in these round-ups can actually be MORE beneficial as it comes across as more genuine. If a vlogger talks about loving a brand's face cream, then talks about the competitor's cleanser, it comes across organically vs an entire post dedicated to a single brand. The consumer audience is highly suspicious of sponsored content.

They will also do the negative side of the review in monthly round-ups of products they advise their audiences NOT to buy. If your brand ends up in this round-up, don't panic. This presents a great opportunity to reach out to the vlogger and say, "Sorry that product didn't work for you. Is there any others you are willing to try?"

The DIY Trope

Millennials and their Gen Z little sisters are very DIY. I chalk it up to them having gone through a long and arduous recession, compiled with the desire to actually create rather than be passive.

How-to & Style YouTubers with DIY just about anything from Halloween costumes to prom dresses to room decor. Anything that can be created with supplies from an arts & crafts store and a glue gun or some thread is free game:

Usually the vlogger will ask her fans one week ahead of time to send in questions under a hashtag or in the comments. During the video, she will choose the best questions and answer them openly. Even taboo subjects get covered like Zoella's example above. And the more taboo, the more views these videos get.

The Importance of Tropes To Your Brand

As video blogging and YouTubers have grown in popularity, they've had to evolve to continue to entertain their hungry audiences. Their audiences are demanding to connect on a deeper level, to learn more and to be entertained. You don't just throw up a channel with a bunch of makeup tutorials any longer. For whatever look there is to create, a makeup or hair tutorial has already been done. There are only so many "recreate this celebrity look" videos you can do before people become saturated.

These may be common tropes today, but they have emerged organically with the demands of the audience and the inventiveness of the YouTubers. Within the next few months, different ones will emerge and within the next few years everything will look completely different.

Brands need to understand the evolving landscape and be up-to-date with what is happening now as well as recognize what is emerging in order to work well with this new influencer.

And if you happen to be looking to start your own channel, learn from these tropes, but understand what sort of audience needs they fulfill rather than just copying them outright.